Lobsters And Lettuce Bundoran

Welcome to Lobsters & Lettuce Festival – Bundoran 2012. This is the inaugural year of a Festival we hope to be celebrating for many years to come.

The Lobsters & Lettuce Festival is a celebration of Bundoran’s place beside the magnificent Atlantic Ocean and how it brings us life and fun through its gifts, benefits and recreational opportunities. Our history, our heritage and how we live in this area is dramatically affected by the Atlantic and its vagaries and we love and respect its forces and moods.

So, what can you expect if you visit us during the Festival? Definitely a feast for the senses with colour, music, verse, scents, tastes and hands-on participation. Definitely fun and laughter with our local characters. Definitely surf and sand and sea, though I won’t go as far as to promise you sun, but we are hopeful!

A big thank you to Donegal Local Development Company who have provided financial and other support to this event in its inaugural year. Thanks also to Fáilte Ireland for their mentoring support and assistance during the organisation process.

Calor Gas has added to our event by providing us with their brilliant demonstration kitchen which provides a focal point for many of the scheduled items. Thank you to Calor.

It’s hard to thank everyone who has helped us out with expertise and items along the way, and there are loads, so please check out our sponsors category which is regularly updated as bits and pieces come in to us.

The stands are booking up now and the events line-up is almost complete. The Lobsters & Lettuce Festival will kick off at 4 pm on Friday 6th July with a carnival parade from Bundoran Boat Quay down to the Festival site at the Promenade beside Waterworld and overlooking the peak. We’re so lucky with the fabulous site and thanks to Bundoran Town Council for the permissions and to Sea Sessions for all their help. Once the carnival reaches the site we’re going to have an open air barbecue which can be enjoyed alongside the Rare Groove Funk Orchestra providing entertainment and the scheduled events of the Lobster Marquee for Friday evening. The Lobsters & Lettuce Festival 2012 is shaping up like this…

All events at Lobsters Marquee unless otherwise stated.

Friday 6th July 2012

4:00 pm       Carnival Lobsters & Lettuce Parade from Bundoran Boat Quay to Festival Site

5:00 pm         Enda Hughes – From Harbour to Harbour; Killybegs to Sydney presented by Marlboro House Restaurant

Jazz from the magnificent Rare Groove Funk  Orchestra

Lobsters & Lettuce Barbecue in event arena

6:00 pm          Panel of Chefs of Ireland– Demo

Old Hands in the Kitchen in Lobsters Marquee

Saturday 7th July

11:00 am          Grow Your Own Organic Salad Bowl with Hans Wieland  – Organic  Centre at Glor Na Mara Community Garden, 10 minutes walk from town centre.

12:00 pm         Can’t Cook? Might Cook! Semi Final 1

La Sabbia and Stakes Restaurants, Bundoran do battle

1:00 pm            Can’t Cook? Might Cook! Semi Final 2

Marlboro House and Fox’s Lair Restaurants, Bundoran do battle

1:45pm               Guided Walk at low Tide with Olivia Crossan of Coast Care – (nos limited)

2:00 pm              Award-winning chef, Piero Melis of the Courthouse Restaurant, Kinlough – Shelling and Cooking  with Oysters

3:00 pm               Everyday cooking with seaweeds from the Irish Seaweed Kitchen 

4:00 pm               Healthy Children’s Lobsters & Lettuce Ready Steady Cook with Eithna O’Sullivan

 5:00 pm              The Right Wine? With Dicey Reillys Award winning Off-License and Louis Latour Wines

6:00 pm                 Authentic Florida Gumbo and Grits with Tracy Bertram from the USA presented by La Sabbia Restaurant.

Sunday 8th July

11:00 am           Ornamental Planting for beside the sea with Paul Dunleavey, Le Fleur, Ballyshannon

RNLI Rescue Demo in Bundoran Bay visible from Festival Site

12:00 pm             Cooking with Wild Food, Gaby Wieland, Herbalist and Cooking Instructor - www.neantog.com

1:00 pm              Cakes & Bakes with Regina Shallow of South West College, NI

2:00 pm             Slow Food Demo from Michael McLoone of Muses Restaurant

3:00 pm             Can’t Cook? Might Cook! Final Cook Off between ???

4:00 pm             Mexican Meets Irish with Marlboro House Restaurant

5:00 pm             Lobsters & Lettuce – The Real Deal, cooking with Eithna O’Sullivan of Source Sligo Cookery School and Eithna’s Mullaghmore

A Tale of Two Towns – Costumed Historical Tour of Bundoran culminating in Ceili  with the Assaroe Ceili Band at Lettuce Marquee at 6:00 pm

Alongside this schedule for the marquees the Glor Na Mara Community Garden will be open for guided walks in association with the Organic Centre, Rossinver. The An Taisce National Coast Care Photographic Exhibition is on view at the Lettuce Marquee Arena and the Bundoran Board Riders will be hosting a surf competition on the Saturday. In addition to this the RNLI will provide a rescue demonstration at Bundoran Boat Quay on Sunday morning. Themed family treasure hunts will be available from the Tourist Information Office and accommodation and food outlets throughout the weekend and Kidz Puppets from Mayo will be doing four showings of two shows throughout Saturday and Sunday. Local anglers will provide information on the fish available in the area and how to cook them.

The Marquee Village on the raised area of the site arena will have stands and stalls at which you can tickle your senses. Foods, wines, soaps and seaweed scrubs form just some of the Marquee Village as well as plants and vegetables for your garden, be it inland or coastal.